Sleep apnea is a repetitive process of respiratory cessation that is often accompanied by leg jerks (nocturnal myoclonus). New evidence suggests that sleep apnea may be one of the major sources of morbidity and mortality among the aged, yet the prevalence of sleep apnea has not been established. Part of the problem has been the expense of laboratory sleep recordings. Our pilot study has: l. demonstrated the feasibility of an ambulatory home sleep recording system which reduces the cost of sleep recordings; and, 2. demonstrated the accuracy of measurement of sleep parameters and the accuracy of diagnosis of sleep apnea and nocturnal myoclonus using these home-recordings. Twenty-three senior volunteers and three referred senior patients have been studied for two nights each) one night in the sleep laboratory and one night at home). Of these, 58% had some form of sleep apnea and nocturnal myoclonus, as diagnosed from the polysomnogram and from the home-recordings. These preliminary data suggest that sleep apnea may be very prevalent in the aged population.